Friday, April 06, 2007

Following Jesus to the Cross

On this "Good Friday" we remember the love climaxed in the great gracious act of self-giving from our Lord at Calvary/Golgotha. This is a love that is trinitarian, an act of self-giving meant to bring us into this reality of love.

We follow Jesus to the Cross. In our mind's eye we watch him struggle; we see the nails pounded into his writhing body. We hear his words of love and pain from that Cross. We look in disbelief yet knowing it is we who put him on that cross. We are the reason that he died. Yet he did so freely, in love to the Father and to the world. God gave freely and he did so by becoming one with us in all our sins in his Son (without himself sinning, yet he became sin for us).

We see this and Jesus's suffering and we realize afresh and anew that he understands firsthand our sufferings and woes and darkness. He loves deeply and empathizes with us and intercedes faithfully for us.

As we view our Lord on that Cross in his once for all sacrifice for us, we begin to come to realize that this act of love is to impact our lives in every way. Not only in our forgiveness, but also in the way we live. He is our example, but more than that. By the Spirit a new way in Jesus has been opened up to us that we in him are to embrace and follow: the way of the cross in fellowship together with and in Jesus. This will reflect in how I react to disappointments, failures and problems that we cannot escape in this world, even as we look at our own face in the mirror.

Let's today take the time to reflect on our Lord's sufferings in his self-giving love for us and the world. And let's ask God how we can become more and more a part of that ongoing self-giving redemptive love in Jesus.

What do you see as you seek to follow the way of Jesus?

(Please don't get bogged down by the links- blue- in my postings. They're not essential. They're like footnotes that may be helpful for various reasons.)

Mirror in Scripture points to the revelation from God through Scripture itself, as well as catching something of the glory and image of the Lord into our hearts so as to change our lives. We're in need of both in our lives here and now, surely.